Mission RCMP has recently focused some of its resources on local traffic concerns, and the results – and tickets – are piling up.

On Tuesday (June 4), the Mission RCMP traffic section took to the streets on North Railway Avenue outside of the West Coast Express pedestrian crossing.

“Many pedestrians are crossing the main intersection on North Railway Avenue and Welton Street to get to the West Coast Express Station. That area is also a main roadway artery for the city,” explained Const. Reid Trustham of the Mission traffic section.

“With the amount of pedestrian and vehicle traffic, it’s considered a high-risk area for collisions.”

In only a few hours, the officers issued more than 30 charges to drivers, ranging from speed infractions to distracted driving.

Among those were two excessive-speed charges – one driver was caught doing 93 km/h in the 40 km/h zone – which resulted in the drivers receiving extensive fines and having their vehicles impounded.

This latest traffic enforcement came on the heels of a May long weekend campaign that saw Mission RCMP remove 15 impaired drivers from local roads.

During the evenings of May 17 and 18, a total of 15 impaired drivers were taken off of Mission roadways, and over 30 additional charges were laid on several other drivers.

“The Mission RCMP remain committed to keeping the residents of Mission safe on the roadways and assure community members that these types of enforcement efforts will continue,” said Cpl. Nathan Berze, who oversees the detachment’s traffic section.

The latest push on traffic issues comes as part of the Mission RCMP’s yearly priorities list. Berze explained that each year, Mission RCMP works with the municipal government and citizens to develop its annual priorities.

“When the public calls in and takes the time to let us know what’s going on, then we take that really seriously. It’s been an overwhelming response from the community of Mission that traffic is an issue. Speeding, aggressive driving, distracted driving – all of these things – we hear about them,” he said.

Focusing on certain infractions – such as speeding, seatbelts and distracted driving – can be an effective strategy.

“In the world of policing, there are so many things that we could focus our attention on and, I guess the idea behind it is, if you focus on a million things, you’ll do none of them well,” Berze said.

Mission RCMP also work in conjunction with ICBC, which runs monthly awareness campaigns, and will coordinate some of its efforts on those highlighted issues.

Mission motorists can expect to see more traffic enforcement efforts in the coming weeks.